For Immediate Release
(1 August 2023) Lao authorities have reportedly arrested and detained
well-known Chinese human rights lawyer Lu Siwei since 28 July
2023. We are gravely concerned that he is at serious risk of forced
repatriation to China where he faces the high likelihood of torture
and other ill-treatment.
Southeast Asian governments have frequently been pressured into
forcibly returning vulnerable individuals back to China, where they
have faced arbitrary detention, unfair trials, torture, enforced
disappearances, and other ill-treatment. Our organizations have
documented numerous cases, ranging from the
2009
forced return of Uyghurs from Cambodia to the
August
2022 disappearance of Chinese democracy activist Dong
Guangping from Vietnam into Chinese custody. Gui Minhai, a
bookseller, was disappeared in
Thailand
in 2015 only to resurface in China without his
passport. These
individuals are effectively disappeared for extended
periods, with family members and colleagues unable to obtain
information until months or years after.
We urge third party governments to:
-
Ask Lao authorities to immediately halt Lu Siwei’s repatriation
and to move quickly to ensure he has access to the relevant UN
authorities and a lawyer of his choice; and,
-
Publicly call on Chinese authorities to drop any potential
charges against Lu Siwei.
By handing Lu Siwei over to the Chinese authorities, the Lao
government would be putting Lu Siwei at grave risk of torture and
inhuman treatment. UN rights experts have found that the Chinese
government frequently subjects rights defenders and lawyers to
torture and inhuman treatment.
1Under
international customary law and as a state party to the UN Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (CAT) since September 2012, the Lao PDR government has a
non-refoulement obligation as stipulated in Article 3 of the CAT not
to return a person to a state where they are at high likelihood of
being subjected to torture.
We urge the Lao government to:
-
Halt all processes of repatriation for Lu Siwei and release him
immediately according to its international human rights obligations;
-
Arrange for him to meet with the relevant UN authorities and a
lawyer of his own choosing;
-
Allow him to meet with diplomats from the United States and other
countries, as needed, to help him resume his journey to reunite with
his family currently in the United States; and
-
Pending the above, to disclose his whereabouts and ensure his
personal safety as well as his physical and mental well-being.
Lu Siwei is a renowned rights defender and lawyer in China,
advocating for vulnerable groups and representing numerous political
dissidents. As the Chinese authorities have become increasingly
intolerant of independent rights advocacy, they have targeted Lu with
intimidation and harassment, including disbarment in January 2021 for
online speech that allegedly “endangered national security”. Lu
Siwei was also physically attacked while traveling to the hearing for
his disbarment. Since then, Lu has been closely monitored by the
Chinese authorities and subject to an exit ban since May 2021. It is
understood that Lu was in Laos en route to joining his family in the
United States.
1
E/C.12/CHN/CO/3, CESCR
Concluding observations on the third periodic report of China,
including Hong Kong, China, and Macao, China, 2 March 2023; and
CAT/C/CHN/CO/5, CAT Concluding observations on the fifth periodic
report of China, 3 February 2016.
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